New Zealanders for a Democratic Economy (NZDE) and
Keep Our Assets (KOA) Press Release —
A new
survey commissioned by New Zealanders for a Democratic
Economy (NZDE) has found public opinion strongly favours
retaining public ownership and control of public assets,
including bringing more essential services and
infrastructure into the public realm.
Two-thirds of
New Zealanders (66%) said they supported the Government
owning MORE of New Zealand’s essential
services and infrastructure, such as electricity companies,
ports, and public transport.
A common theme underlying
the public support for greater public ownership and control
of the economy was fairness. By taking social utilities and
strategic industries into public ownership, respondents felt
the following outcomes would improve: accountability and
responsiveness to public concerns and priorities, better
value for money, making prices lower or fairer to protect
households, and running infrastructure and essential
services as a service for the benefit of the people rather
than private shareholders.
Less than one-third of
respondents (31%) agreed with the statement that the
Government should be willing to sell some public assets to
reduce Government debt.
Across all public assets, from
Department of Conservation Land to Kiwibank to New Zealand
Post and the Interislander ferries, New Zealanders oppose
asset sales by clear majorities.
It comes as a
coalition of organisations are asking political parties to
sign the National Keep Our Assets Pledge, the deadline for
which is this afternoon at 2pm. These include: the New
Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU), Keep Our Assets, 350
Aotearoa, ActionStation Aotearoa, and New Zealanders for a
Democratic Economy (NZDE).
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The pledge asks political
parties to commit to retaining in public hands, full public
ownership and control of the Government’s current
portfolio of public assets. By signing the pledge, parties
would be committing to ruling out any coalition agreement
that would involve providing for asset sales in the next
Parliamentary term. The national anti-asset sales coalition
will be holding a community meeting for all party
signatories to declare their support for the pledge
publicly.
NZDE co-chair Harry Robson says everyday
Kiwis have lost faith in the free market approach as a
solution to address our nation’s ills. “In their view,
the key ingredients of our nation’s success — reliable
infrastructure, essential services you can depend on, and
costs that don’t prohibit Kiwis from having the security
they need to put roots down in their community — depend on
retaining and expanding public ownership and control of the
economy, not losing it.”
Turning to influence over
Government decisions, four-fifths or more (85%) of New
Zealanders saw large businesses, corporations, and wealthy
individuals (80%) as having a great deal or a fair amount of
influence over Government decisions. Over three-fifths of
the public thought ordinary working people had little to no
influence at all. Almost three-quarters (73%) also felt
overseas investors and companies had a great deal or a fair
amount of influence.
On money in politics, close to
three-quarters (73%) of New Zealanders were concerned by the
influence of large donations to political parties, with more
than a third of the public very concerned (34%)—a number
greater than the share of New Zealanders who supported
selling some public assets to pay down Government debt
(31%).
KOA convenor Murray Horton says corporate
influence often attempts to distort the decisions of
Government to favour their own interests over the public
interest, including by lobbying Cabinet ministers to approve
legislation providing for asset sales, which will enrich
their bottom lines. “Under this Prime Minister, the vast
majority of New Zealanders feel corporations, wealthy
individuals, and overseas interests have an outsized
influence over Government decisions. The public are clearly
making the connection between preserving what little agency
they feel they have over politics and public policy, and
retaining full public ownership and control of the public
assets with which they have invested their taxes,
livelihoods, and toil. Through asset sales, corporate
investors loot the public sector for all its worth,
privatise the profits, and then socialise the costs onto the
everyday public.”
The survey showed that if a
political party were to sign the pledge, more than
two-fifths of voters would be more likely to give that party
their vote (44%). Less than one-fifth would be less likely
to give that party their vote (19%), and for just over
one-quarter it would not make a difference (27%).
NZDE
co-chair Dr Nathan McCluskey believes the pledge will help
provide clarity around an issue that is important to voters.
“The public need to be able to make an informed choice
about the party they are giving their vote to. The National
Keep Our Assets pledge will help show which political
parties truly care about ensuring the ordinary working
people of New Zealand retain any degree of agency over how
decisions are made in Wellington that affect all of our
day-to-day lives. The public clearly knows that without a
strong public realm that fully owns and controls
infrastructure and essential services, they will have little
to no ability to have a say over our economy and the cost of
living.”
